It was more than twice the $40-billion deficit that Wall Street economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast and was striking since April marks the filing deadline for individual income taxes that are the main source of government revenue.
Department officials said that in prior years, there was a surplus during April in 43 out of the past 56 years.
The government has now posted 19 consecutive monthly budget deficits, the longest string of shortfalls on record.
For the first seven months of fiscal 2010, which ends September 30, the cumulative budget deficit totals $799.68 billion, down slightly from $802.3 billion in the comparable period of fiscal 2009.
Outlays during April rose to $327.96 billion from $218.75 billion in March and were up from $287.11 billion in April 2009. It was a record level of outlays for an April.
Department officials noted there were five Fridays in April this year, which helped account for higher outlays since most tax refunds are issued on that day.
But for the first seven months of the fiscal year, outlays fell to $1.99 trillion from $2.06 trillion in the comparable period of fiscal 2009, partly because of repayments by banks of bailout funds they received during the financial crisis.
Receipts in April -- mostly from income taxes -- were $245.27 billion, up from $153.36 billion in March but lower than the $266.21 billion taken in during April 2009.
Receipts from individuals, who faced an April 15 filing deadline for paying 2009 taxes, fell to $107.31 billion from $137.67 billion in April 2009.
The U.S. full-year deficit this year is projected at $1.5 trillion on top of a $1.4 trillion shortfall last year.
White House budget director Peter Orszag told Reuters Insider in an interview on Wednesday that the United States must tackle its deficits quickly to avoid the kind of debt crisis that hit Greece.
15 comments:
Our country is in a deep trench of debt and needs to make a change desperatly. The fact is we are spending too much money, more money than the government can come up with. I am really hoping things turn around soon because I do no t want to end up like Greece and I want the US to maintain its status as the world superpower for the rest of my live and my childrens lives.
In a recession, the government often increases expenditures to stabilize the economy. The debate about the deficit, therefore, is not that it exists but that it may indicate irresponsible fiscal policy. The deficit, while alarming, is not inherently negligible to our society.
"The government has now posted 19 consecutive monthly budget deficits, the longest string of shortfalls on record."
wooo a new record..go usa!!
only 6% for education part, come on, that's not enough...
Wow....such a majority of the budget spent on defense. Everything else has such a small percentage!
Thank you Mr. Perry for a great semester!
Wow....such a majority of the budget spent on defense. Everything else has such a small percentage!
Thank you Mr. Perry for a great semester!
Their spending 59% of the budget on defense and American citizens still dont feel very safe. I think the questionable thing isnt how much they are spending but how effectively they are spending it.
i hope that one day our country will be able to get our financed in order. especially since its my generation and the future generations that half to pay for this mess. people need to start buying American made products to help out the economy.
It's unbelievable how much is spent on national defense. Understandably we are in a war right now so costs will be naturally high, but to think how we could spend that money towards education and health benefits. I may not know all the nuances for the need for the large percentage but it seems to be a huge chunk in this what might be an unfairly divided pie.
When Mr. Clinton left the White House, federal budget was not in deficit. Since then because of variety of reasons including but not limited to the cost of fighting two wars, the bail out of financial institutions, the auto industry, recession, and the loss of employment have led to increase in expense and reduction in federal revenue.
As a nation this is the time, all of us must band together, leave partisanship behind, reallocate resources and find ways to reduce the deficit. We are borrowing money from foreign countries. Just like buying oil and becoming dependent on foreign countries, we must reduce our borrowing dependency. We must take steps so that we can not be held hostage by these foreign countries.
Wow, the first thing we cut in our budget was National defense. Health care, epa, and social security stuff was our top priority. Its strange to see how much the government's priorities and the citizen's priorities differ. It makes you wonder what would happen if our decisions were acted upon instead of the governments.
It is going to be a long and hard journey to significatnly reduce the huge amount of budget deficits of the government.
What they really need to do is get some better economists and accountants together to help balance all this money that isn't being counted and over spent. We need to tackle this dilema head on everyone has helped this monster of dept just get out of control. But yes overall spending needs to be spread out more that way specific groups and organizations can get things done.
its nice to see on the graph that no other issue has a two digit number other than National Defense.
I think as much as they try to avoid this increase, it's still more likely going to happen.
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